A Pet Addendum to Lease is a written contract outlining the terms for keeping pets in your rental unit. This agreement conveys what is expected of the tenant concerning any pets kept in the rental property. In doing so, it protects the landlord from any damages caused by the pet or pets.
A landlord may specify the types of animals allowed, including the size and breed limits of dogs. As you might expect, landlords have all the power in making these decisions and rules. From a business perspective, if you were trying to gain a competitive edge in the first place, it would not be smart to be overly restrictive in this regard, but it is entirely up to you.
Depending on your state, a Pet Addenedum to Lease may also be known as:
Pet Agreement
Lease Addendum for Pets
Lease Agreement for Pets
Pet Permission Letter
Rental Unit Pet Policy
Tenant Authorization Letter for Pets
Landlord Letter of Consent for a Pet
A Pet Addendum to Lease is a useful tool for both landlords and tenants. It makes the relationship and expectations clear and minimizes the potential for a dispute. The landlord usually suggests creating a Pet Addendum to Lease to outline all the rules for allowing tenants to keep pets.
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The Pet Addendum to Lease is a straightforward document requiring just several pieces of essential information. As a landlord, creating a Pet Addendum to Lease afresh for every lease can get tedious, which you can avoid if you have a template.
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To create your document, please provide:
Landlord Details: The legal name of the landlord and contact information.
Tenant Details: The legal name of the tenant and contact information.
The Effective Date: The date when the agreement goes into effect.
Type of Animal: Specify the type or types of animals allowed.
Animal Weight: Specify the permitted weight, if necessary.
Spayed/Neutered: The desexing status.
Vaccinations: A declaration that the animal has had all the required vaccinations.
Pet Regulations and Restrictions: Specify all the rules and restrictions.
TTenant'sObligations: The responsibilities of the tenant concerning the pet and the rental property.
Signatures: Both parties must sign the contract.
Addendum: An addition to an existing document, such as a contract.
Landlord: A person owning properties for renting.
Tenant: A person renting a property to live in.
Rental Unit: A property owned for rental purposes.
Lease: Informally, this is the rental contract between a landlord and a tenant.
Deposit: The security deposit is needed to sign the lease.
Eviction: A court-ordered removal of the tenant from a rental unit as initiated by the landlord.
HOA Penalty: A penalty issued by the Homeowner Association.
ESA: Emotional support animal.
Before signing the Pet Addendum to Lease, make sure to review it thoroughly first. The terms should be fair to the landlord and the tenant. Both sign the agreement to make it legally binding. Notarization is not required, but a witness could be beneficial.
Once signed, the Pet Addendum to Lease should be distributed to both the landlord and the tenant. The landlord can add the agreement to the tenant's lease agreement and other paperwork.
Emotional support animals are different from service animals, which are often trained to help blind people, etc. In most cases, people with severe anxiety disorders and other mental health disabilities require emotional support animals. In general, landlords that otherwise do not allow pets will be required to allow the emotional support animal as a "reasonable accommodation" under the Fair Housing Act.
Both the landlord and the tenant can lose a lot of time in a dispute. If a tenant keeps pets when the lease specifically forbids this, the landlord can initiate eviction proceedings. Or if the lease is silent on the topic altogether, conflicts may arise between different tenants due to noise or damage caused by the pet, or their may be no recourse for damage caused by the pet other than use of the security deposit.
It's no secret that tenants with pets tend to stay longer. As mentioned, you may have the upper hand compared to landlords and places that don’t accept pets and tenants are usually willing to pay more if you allow them to keep pets. Even though this is not always the case, most tenants with pets are highly responsible, or else it could be hard to convince future landlords to allow them to keep pets.
Start with not leaving your pet home alone for too long. Cleaning up after your pet is showing appreciation to your neighbors and landlord. Also, it is a good practice to introduce yourself to new neighbors when moving in and explain that you have a pet and that they should just let you know if a problem comes up.
Some landlords choose to charge a pet fee. States like California only allow a fixed amount of security deposits and pet fees are forbidden. In the less-regulatory states, you can ask for a pet fee to account for the additional wear and tear that some pets are certain to inflict on your property.
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